You can make really great pop music and exist completely outside of the mainstream; Arthur Ashin aka Autre Ne Veut- French for "others don't want" (how fitting) has crafted a really fine art pop record here, completely free of any of mainstream R&B's trappings.
An homage to Prince as much as one can be without falling victim to imitation, it doesn't overindulge in nostalgia. Yet there's a really heavy sadness underneath everything here. It's messy, it's strange, it's yearning, it's pacing back and forth, it's a lot.
It's anxiety.
